COA promotes tourism to rural areas at 7-Elevens

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Maps and recreational information about Taiwan’s rural areas were made available to the public yesterday at the more than 4,800 branches of 7-Eleven convenience stores across the country, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday.

The council said it cooperated with the convenience store chain to provide more than 2,000 pieces of information on scenic spots, recreational farms, shops, restaurants, accommodation, tours and other useful information about rural areas for the public to view or print out at the chain’s ibon kiosks.

The service not only provides information and maps about interesting sites within a 15km radius of each kiosk, but also gives discount coupons for the locations that can be printed at the store.

The council said the initiative integrated the business sector with government efforts to promote tourism in rural areas by making the information about agricultural products and rural tourism more readily available.

Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Bao-ji (陳保基) said that the service is the first step in the council’s open data program, which hopes to attract more visitors to to rural areas and increase consumption of agricultural products.

The council will provide all the content for the program so that it can update the information in the kiosks, it said.